Harbour Bridge commences night retractions to ease daytime congestion

Nov 24, 2016 News

A vessel making its way through the opening in the Demerara Bridge

As Guyana awaits, impatiently, the construction of another Demerara River crossing, authorities appeared to be making significant progress in reducing congestion on the East and West Bank Demerara area.

In the wee hours of this morning, the Demerara Harbour Bridge was scheduled to start allowing night retractions for ocean-going vessels. Shortly after 01:00 hours, a fuel boat was set to make its way upriver to Providence.

The night retractions would come after decades of openings only during the day, a system that had overtime contributed to the growing congestion problem along the East Bank Demerara road, said to be the busiest in the country.

According to Brion Singh, Traffic Manager of the Demerara Harbour Bridge, the night openings were made possible after months of preparation, including ensuring that river navigation lights have been repaired and operational.

The bridge management had to ensure that the cluster piles or buffers were in place.

“We had also to service and clear the areas of several river navigational lights which over the years have not been in use.”

The river navigational lights are located at Good Intent and Sisters’ Nursery School, West Bank Demerara and at the sugar terminals, Ruimveldt.

“We took a little while as we wanted to ensure that risks are greatly minimized,” Singh explained.

The bridge’s management had to consult with river pilots, agents, the Maritime Administration Department (MARAD) and other stakeholders.

“According to MARAD regulations all foreign vessels have to use local pilots to go through the bridge,” the official explained.

Singh noted that it is the intention to ultimately bring down the average 90 minutes that the bridge opens during the day.

One of the major problems saddling the bridge openings is that sometimes it spills over to peak periods, especially in the afternoon, because of the timing of the tide.

It is the intention to bring down the 90 minutes openings to about an hour.

“We are not doing away with the daily openings. We are first starting with the ocean-going vessels in the night. We will not be allowing any barges because of delicate nature of piloting the vessels through the bridge,” the Traffic Manager disclosed.

The aging Demerara Bridge, 38 years old, has been a major worry for consecutive administrations. It is the main link to the West Demerara and Essequibo Coast from the city.

The bridge has recorded a sharp rise in traffic with west-bound traffic showing almost 9,500 vehicles and motorcycles crossing daily. With an estimated 90 percent of those vehicles returning, it means that on an average 18,000 vehicles and motorcycles are crossing the structure daily.

The previous administration has started the process of building a new one with a number of proposals on the table, including a similar floating one, as well as a fixed structure.

A number of sites, including Houston, East Bank Demerara, are currently being considered, for possible locations.